&nbsp; To remove components highly contaminated by radioactive materials in the decommissioned nuclear power plants, the tele-operation robot with flexible arms by water pressure control mechanisms has been developed. The objective of this research and development is to provide a process planning support system and method that can improve the accuracy of dismantling time to generate robot work sequences, support recovery from process delays, and determine the feasibility of a possible dismantling process from a large search space. Since the flexible arms have a more complex mechanism than multi-axis robots, geometric shapes and unique movable arm structures to resolve the complex structures were modeled with a tool for three-dimensional (3D) computer graphics (CG). With its 3D CG model, valid operation sequences were made so that the sequences are used for the planning of the movement applied for the robot. With the help of the prototype system, it can generate the time for the operating duration of the robot.&nbsp;The generated time is used for the duration of a specific activity in a dismantling schedule which is represented as a Gantt chart.&nbsp;(1)&nbsp; Creation of a 3D CG model for the robot&nbsp; To plan the robot behaviors for complex dismantling processes, a simplified planning method with few virtual controllers based on the spline inverse kinematics (IK) with Non-Uniform Rational B-Spline (NURBS) curves for the arm comprised of pistons-cylinders pressurized by water has been studied. Whereas, to monitor and feedback the sensor data from the actual robot for reflecting the postures of the robot to a virtual space, the forward kinematics (FK) moving structures were used.&nbsp;(2)&nbsp; Evaluation of the moving sequences of the robot&nbsp; Only seven parameters were required for grasping and controlling for rotating the handle of a valve. The planning work for adjusting the movement of the robot with the spline IK method confirmed to be decreased less than 1/3 times compared with the conventional methods. With this evaluation of the prototype system for planning the behaviors of the robot and for reflecting the actual movement to the virtual movement, we also confirmed that the virtual robot and the data from the actual robot can be collaborated together as a digital twin environment.

Development of Real-Time Simulation Technology for Robots With Flexible Arms Based on Three-Dimensional Computer Graphics Methods

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/ICONE/ICONE28/volume/85246

2021 28th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE28)

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